When I was baptized in Jesus name and He filled me with His precious Spirit, God gave me the privilege of becoming His child. Even though He already had children of His own, when He died on the cross He opened up the door for me to become adopted into His family, the family of Israel, heavenly Jerusalem. I no longer go by my own name, I am called by His. A child of Salvation, which is what His name means. When I was adopted by Him, He did not change His culture to fit mine, I changed mine to fit His. I became a part of His family, therefore I was required to learn His way of doing things. It wasn't always easy, but with the power of His Spirit and the love of a true father who wants to see His child succeed, I began to learn quickly. He brought me back to the beginning, to teach me the foundations of His kingdom.
The first lesson I was to learn, just as He had taught his other children at mount Sinai, is that He is one. There is none else beside Him. And there are certain ways in Which He desires to be worshipped but there are also ways in which He does not want to be worshipped. I had to unlearn a lot of the things I had previously been taught. I used to believe that it pleased Him to be worshipped the way other cultures worshipped their multitude of gods. I had given Him a birthday and celebrated it every year. I used to celebrate His death, burial, and resurrection, on a day that He never asked me to and I even changed the name of it from פסח(passover) into the name of a pagan goddess, Ishtar. I used to bring Him into my world and my culture, doing things in ways that seemed right to me instead of realizing that I was adopted into His world and His culture. I didn't even realize He had asked me not to celebrate Him in these ways because I had been taught those things all my life by my earthly family.
It wasn't until I started reading His letters to me that I found this, "...30and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same." 31You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods." What was I to do? I have celebrated Him this way all of my life! How was I to stop? It's so hard to start over, but isn't that what 'new birth' is all about? If He wants me to have a new life in Him that is what I will do. I will unlearn all of the things that I have been taught to follow on this earth and I will learn what He desires for my life. If He doesn't want to be worshipped in these ways then how must I worship Him?
He tells me this too in His letters. "..These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of YHVH, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies." I used to be taught that these festivals were only for the Jewish people (YHVH's firstborn), but then I begin to read that these are His festivals and He asked all of His children to celebrate them throughout all of their generations, forever. These festivals are not to earn adoption status, but they are to show that we have already been adopted into His family. They are to help us remember His plan of salvation for all the world and when they are celebrated the way He designed, they actually tell an amazing story of His plan for humanity! Why would I celebrate my own holidays all those years when I have the opportunity to celebrate the holidays (Holy-days) that He designed for me!
Did you know He even tells us in His Word that when He returns to earth the whole world will celebrate His holy days? He will teach all of the people His laws and the whole world will be at peace for one thousand years! But he does give a warning to anyone who refuses to keep His feasts in this millennium, " 16Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles." This is not the only passage which mentions the feasts of God being celebrated after His return. Isaiah 66 tells us, "From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD." It seems to me like our Father is very serious about all humanity keeping these feasts after His return! So why wouldn't we keep them now?
Some say that it is going back into bondage of the law, but that is not at all what it means. Bondage of the law means attempting salvation by our own works, and since keeping our Fathers festivals is not attempting to receive salvation but rather is a testimony of our salvation it does not apply. Jesus did not come to destroy the law or any of the things the prophets foretold or wrote, He came to destroy the penalty for breaking the law which was death. He tells us himself that nothing from the law will pass away or be removed until the new heaven and the new earth are in place, that is when all will be fulfilled. It made me wonder, if Jesus didn't want me to follow His laws anymore then why would He write them on my heart? Why does Paul tell me in the book of Romans, "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts will either accuse or excuse them."?
I religiously kept all of my pagan celebrations in honor of God but the thought of keeping one of His own festivals was going back into bondage? That seemed a little twisted around to me. Paul tells us that the law is holy and good, but the enemy used that which was good to bring death to us through sin. Jesus came not to take away what was good, but the punishment for transgressing the holiness of the law. It is impossible for man to become holy unless he has a holy God living inside of him. Though it is still not mans holiness which saves him but the holiness of the Spirit of Jesus which covers him. He goes on to say if we truly are children of light, let us walk in light and not in darkness. Let us walk in the ways of God, not in the ways of the world. We have to be retaught as babes in Christ, and that means letting go of everything behind us and clinging to the teachings of Christ. God doesn't want us mixing our old lives with our new, He wants us to become an entirely new creature; but how are we to do that while still holding to the traditions of this world? He wants us to learn His ways and the way His family ought to operate.
Did you know the gentile converts were taught to keep YHVH's festivals? In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul is teaching the Corinthians how to keep the Passover feast, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. They were also chastened by Paul in chapter 10 for mixing pagan customs with God's holy feast by partaking of the cup of devils and the cup of Christ. In a functional family it is not up to the child to tell the parent how to do things but the other way around. So why did I feel like I could tell God how I wanted and didn't want to worship Him? He is the Father, I came into His family, so He makes those kinds of decisions. I can choose to be disobedient and carry on in my own stubborn ways, or I can submit to His will and receive the blessings He has in store for me.
No child is perfect and there are many things I have yet to learn, but as long as I stay teachable and willing to change I will grow into the maturity promised by my Father in Ephesians 4 with grace and truth. To say that the teachings of Jesus in the new testament are different from Jesus' teachings in the old testament would be an attempt to divide God. He is one. His Word is one. Jesus quoted His words from the old testament 84 times and Paul who wrote roughly half of the new testament quoted from the old testament close to 1000 times. They are not teaching a different doctrine, the message is the same because God does not change. For some who think that keeping the 613 commandments of the old testament is impossibly hard, what about the 1050 commandments of the new testament? We are not going into bondage by keeping God's holy laws through the power of His Spirit. We go into bondage if we think we are somehow earning our salvation by our own works.
Jesus says, "If you love me, keep my commandments." And what do all of YHVH's commandments hinge on? 1. Love God, 2. Love your neighbor. The summary of it all is love. I keep my Father's commandments because I love Him. There is nothing I could ever do to earn the grace and mercy that He has showed to me, He is a sovereign God and He chooses whom He will be merciful to. Though I can express my thankfulness and love to Him by doing my best to please Him and keep His Word. Allow God to teach you and give you understanding and discernment of His laws and instructions. This is what David prayed for in Psalm 119, an amazing chapter. I will post the passage below so you can read and grasp how much David --a man after God's own heart-- truly loved God's laws. I want that same love and passion in my heart for my Father. "I'm no longer a slave to fear! I am a child of God." God bless and I hope you continue to go deeper in Christ!
The first lesson I was to learn, just as He had taught his other children at mount Sinai, is that He is one. There is none else beside Him. And there are certain ways in Which He desires to be worshipped but there are also ways in which He does not want to be worshipped. I had to unlearn a lot of the things I had previously been taught. I used to believe that it pleased Him to be worshipped the way other cultures worshipped their multitude of gods. I had given Him a birthday and celebrated it every year. I used to celebrate His death, burial, and resurrection, on a day that He never asked me to and I even changed the name of it from פסח(passover) into the name of a pagan goddess, Ishtar. I used to bring Him into my world and my culture, doing things in ways that seemed right to me instead of realizing that I was adopted into His world and His culture. I didn't even realize He had asked me not to celebrate Him in these ways because I had been taught those things all my life by my earthly family.
It wasn't until I started reading His letters to me that I found this, "...30and after they have been destroyed before you, be careful not to be ensnared by inquiring about their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? We will do the same." 31You must not worship the LORD your God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods." What was I to do? I have celebrated Him this way all of my life! How was I to stop? It's so hard to start over, but isn't that what 'new birth' is all about? If He wants me to have a new life in Him that is what I will do. I will unlearn all of the things that I have been taught to follow on this earth and I will learn what He desires for my life. If He doesn't want to be worshipped in these ways then how must I worship Him?
He tells me this too in His letters. "..These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of YHVH, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies." I used to be taught that these festivals were only for the Jewish people (YHVH's firstborn), but then I begin to read that these are His festivals and He asked all of His children to celebrate them throughout all of their generations, forever. These festivals are not to earn adoption status, but they are to show that we have already been adopted into His family. They are to help us remember His plan of salvation for all the world and when they are celebrated the way He designed, they actually tell an amazing story of His plan for humanity! Why would I celebrate my own holidays all those years when I have the opportunity to celebrate the holidays (Holy-days) that He designed for me!
Did you know He even tells us in His Word that when He returns to earth the whole world will celebrate His holy days? He will teach all of the people His laws and the whole world will be at peace for one thousand years! But he does give a warning to anyone who refuses to keep His feasts in this millennium, " 16Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 17 And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. 18 And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the Lord will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles." This is not the only passage which mentions the feasts of God being celebrated after His return. Isaiah 66 tells us, "From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me," says the LORD." It seems to me like our Father is very serious about all humanity keeping these feasts after His return! So why wouldn't we keep them now?
Some say that it is going back into bondage of the law, but that is not at all what it means. Bondage of the law means attempting salvation by our own works, and since keeping our Fathers festivals is not attempting to receive salvation but rather is a testimony of our salvation it does not apply. Jesus did not come to destroy the law or any of the things the prophets foretold or wrote, He came to destroy the penalty for breaking the law which was death. He tells us himself that nothing from the law will pass away or be removed until the new heaven and the new earth are in place, that is when all will be fulfilled. It made me wonder, if Jesus didn't want me to follow His laws anymore then why would He write them on my heart? Why does Paul tell me in the book of Romans, "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts. Their consciences confirm this. Their competing thoughts will either accuse or excuse them."?
I religiously kept all of my pagan celebrations in honor of God but the thought of keeping one of His own festivals was going back into bondage? That seemed a little twisted around to me. Paul tells us that the law is holy and good, but the enemy used that which was good to bring death to us through sin. Jesus came not to take away what was good, but the punishment for transgressing the holiness of the law. It is impossible for man to become holy unless he has a holy God living inside of him. Though it is still not mans holiness which saves him but the holiness of the Spirit of Jesus which covers him. He goes on to say if we truly are children of light, let us walk in light and not in darkness. Let us walk in the ways of God, not in the ways of the world. We have to be retaught as babes in Christ, and that means letting go of everything behind us and clinging to the teachings of Christ. God doesn't want us mixing our old lives with our new, He wants us to become an entirely new creature; but how are we to do that while still holding to the traditions of this world? He wants us to learn His ways and the way His family ought to operate.
Did you know the gentile converts were taught to keep YHVH's festivals? In 1 Corinthians 5 Paul is teaching the Corinthians how to keep the Passover feast, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. They were also chastened by Paul in chapter 10 for mixing pagan customs with God's holy feast by partaking of the cup of devils and the cup of Christ. In a functional family it is not up to the child to tell the parent how to do things but the other way around. So why did I feel like I could tell God how I wanted and didn't want to worship Him? He is the Father, I came into His family, so He makes those kinds of decisions. I can choose to be disobedient and carry on in my own stubborn ways, or I can submit to His will and receive the blessings He has in store for me.
No child is perfect and there are many things I have yet to learn, but as long as I stay teachable and willing to change I will grow into the maturity promised by my Father in Ephesians 4 with grace and truth. To say that the teachings of Jesus in the new testament are different from Jesus' teachings in the old testament would be an attempt to divide God. He is one. His Word is one. Jesus quoted His words from the old testament 84 times and Paul who wrote roughly half of the new testament quoted from the old testament close to 1000 times. They are not teaching a different doctrine, the message is the same because God does not change. For some who think that keeping the 613 commandments of the old testament is impossibly hard, what about the 1050 commandments of the new testament? We are not going into bondage by keeping God's holy laws through the power of His Spirit. We go into bondage if we think we are somehow earning our salvation by our own works.
Jesus says, "If you love me, keep my commandments." And what do all of YHVH's commandments hinge on? 1. Love God, 2. Love your neighbor. The summary of it all is love. I keep my Father's commandments because I love Him. There is nothing I could ever do to earn the grace and mercy that He has showed to me, He is a sovereign God and He chooses whom He will be merciful to. Though I can express my thankfulness and love to Him by doing my best to please Him and keep His Word. Allow God to teach you and give you understanding and discernment of His laws and instructions. This is what David prayed for in Psalm 119, an amazing chapter. I will post the passage below so you can read and grasp how much David --a man after God's own heart-- truly loved God's laws. I want that same love and passion in my heart for my Father. "I'm no longer a slave to fear! I am a child of God." God bless and I hope you continue to go deeper in Christ!
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